§ Mr. Wrigglesworthasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will estimate the cost of estimating a national transplant register.
§ Mr. MoyleWithout detailed specifications, it is difficult to give an accurate estimate of the cost of setting up a register. However, assuming provision needed to be made for up to half the adult population joining the register the experience my Department has in setting up similar computer registers for other purposes suggests that the capital cost of the equipment needed including back-up facilities, to sustain the necessary identifying details would be in the order of £2 million. In addition, the initial cost of compiling the register would be around £3 million and the annual running cost for providing 24 hour, seven day per week access to the data, maintenance, and
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§ Mr. MoyleFollowing is the information for 30th September 1978:
up-dating the records and estimates would be in the region of £1½ million. These figures do not include the cost of publicity to launch the scheme nor do they take into account the cost of accommodating the equipment.
§ Mr. Wrigglesworthasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if the Government will establish a national transplant register of people willing to donate organs when they die to others who have need of them.
§ Mr. MoyleI remain to be convinced that the considerable resources required to establish and maintain an accurate and up-to-date national register of organ donors, accessible for 24 hours every day, could not be used more effectively to improve the supply of kidneys in other ways. It is not known whether such a system would be acceptable to the hospital staff who would be required to operate it and, despite the fact that a dead person had registered his consent, many doctors would still feel ethically bound to consult the relatives, whenever possible, before the removal of an organ. If mistakes were to be avoided, the register would need to contain many personal details and I would need to be sure that this would be acceptable to the general public before embarking on such a scheme. I hope to learn more on this point from the public attitude survey that has been commissioned.
§ Mr. Wrigglesworthasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the present arrangements for maintaining records of people willing to donate organs for transplant operations and for matching them with recipients.
§ Mr. MoyleNo records are maintained of people willing to donate their organs, although people wishing to donate their kidneys after death are encouraged to carry a kidney donor card. In order to 65W match a kidney donor with a recipient, an organ matching and distribution centre at UK Transplant in Bristol has been established. This national centre, financed by my Department, keeps a computerised record of people needing kidneys and arranges where necessary transport for the kidneys or other organs from the donor's hospital to the recipient.
The Royal National Institute for the Blind keeps a register of these persons who have indicated a wish to leave their eyes for transplant purposes.
§ Mr. Wrigglesworthasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what discussions he has had about the possibility of establishing a national transplant register.
§ Mr. MoyleAlternatives to the kidney donor card scheme will be discussed in the document setting out the arguments for and against amending the Human Tissue Act to improve the supply of kidneys, which I hope will be published around the end of the year. Questions on this matter have also been included in the large-scale public attitude survey which is at present being carried out.
§ Mr. Wrigglesworthasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many transplant operations have been carried out in each of the last five years; and how many patients are now awaiting organs for transplant operations.
§ Mr. MoyleThe following are the numbers of kidney transplants using cadaver kidneys recorded in the United Kingdom for the years ending 30th June:
1974 476 1975 599 1976 580 1977 671 1978 761 In addition, in the years ending 30th June 1977 and 1978 respectively, 117 and 122 live donor transplants were recorded.
The number of patients in the United Kingdom on the waiting list at 31st October 1978 was 1,177.